Hellgate

No not as a run - as a two day pack walk.

Little Robbie turned up at my place on Friday night and then we picked up my long-time bushwalking buddy from wayback (Simon & I did some fantastic walks through the 90's) at the airport and drove to the Deviation arriving about 10.30pm.

Up early on Saturday with the plan of driving to the Jenolan Campground to start - low and behold the gate was locked and the campground closed so we headed into Jenolan proper and left the car there.

The pretty doddle back to the campground went by quickly enough. The highlight being seeing a platypus! The amount of water in the Jenolan River meant no dry crossings and so it was with sodden feet we ascended the ridge to Oaky Camp.

Gotta say that ridge is fairly sporting with a 17kg pack on your back, not to mention being unfit.

Anyhoo we hit the top in ok time and as always the section along Blood Filly FT & the first part of the Big M Boss were delightful. The descent as always, tedius and unrelenting - though recent bulldozing has left the surface much more compact than I've ever seen it.

Set up camp on the river and discovered Sassafras Ck is dry, so it was out with the Steri-pen to refill the Camelbaks. Fitful night sleep as it rained nearly the whole night. Long story short the tape seal on my bivy bag is cactus and I got wet.

Up and on our way the long climb back to Blacks Range never disappoints :) By the time we hit the top it was squally showers and windy - even I felt cold which is a real rarity.

Made the Deviation for lunch and the re-shouldered the packs for the final leg. The rain stopped just when we got back to the car - we briefly thought about walking down to the Jenolan Campground but decided to drive back to the deviation.

The Deviation was like Central Station during peak hour so we went to the alternative ground on the other side of the Jenolan Road which we had all to ourselves.

As my sleeping bag & theramrest were wet I elected to sleep in the car and even then I had a pretty uncomfortable first hour or so till things started to warm up. In the end I got a pretty good sleep.

Woke up, breakfasted in the rain and drove back to brilliant sunshine in Sydney - go figure!

It has been a good few years since I last did a pack walk and this was a nice easy one to re-aquaint myself with all the old skills - it was nice, though I'm a twee bit sore now.

All good :)